Ding: Time to get excited again about Nash to Lakers

Steve Nash, right, and sits with fellow injured Laker Pau Gasol during Friday's game at Washington. Nash, who broke his left fibula on Oct. 31, intends to resume practicing in coming days. ROB CARR, GETTY IMAGES

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Steve Nash, advising Dwight Howard during the second half of the Lakers' victory Friday in Washington, intends to resume practicing in coming days. Nash broke his left fibula on Oct. 31. ALEX BRANDON, AP

PHILADELPHIA – The really cool thing, studies show, about a special event or major change is not actually in the singular experience. It's the buildup – the excitement of looking forward to something that extends the special, major moment into a broader feeling ... and eventual memory.

That's why surprises are actually overrated, because for all their pop, they are but a flash.

But what if the buildup lasts too long?

Lakers fans had most of July, then all of August, September and October to get absolutely stoked about Steve Nash. Talk about really cool things ... watching Nash's blend of poetic vision, fierce determination and flapping hair has been the most purely fun thing about the NBA the past 20 years.

Then Nash played for the Lakers. He played one game. He had seven points and four assists and the Lakers lost.

And then the Lakers lost the next night ... Nash getting hurt midway through.

Not hard to see how much better the buildup is than the actual moment when the actual moment is crap.

But the Lakers fired Mike Brown and hired Mike D'Antoni, and expectations for Nash went through Staples Center's roof again. When Nash's leg heals, it's going to be even more poetic and fierce (even if the hair's no longer flapping) with the ultimate Nash coach pushing the buttons!

And so came the buildup again, except as the Lakers kept losing and the calendar kept turning, the feeling shifted from excitement to annoyance. Nash, who is actually one of the most diligent and professional players in NBA history when it comes to his body, got presumed to be fragile just because of his age.

The Lakers' initial timetable announced Nov. 3 of Nash being out one week before being re-evaluated made many figure he'd be out only one week – or slightly more than that. In fact, the Lakers didn't know how the recovery would go because it was a complicated injury – not severe in the fracture but involving both tissue and nerve damage.

D'Antoni mentioned the nerve issue as far back as Nov. 20, and the nerve even now hasn't healed – though the Lakers are optimistic enough from the improvement to believe Nash's final remnants of pain will fade away even as he begins to test the leg with full change of direction and cutting.

So Nash might finally be back playing with the Lakers a week from now.

And the emotions for Lakers fans about him doing so have shifted from that excitement to that annoyance to this dark desperation.

The Lakers are a mess without him.

Even right now, Kobe Bryant is talking about taking advantage of mismatches on offense and Dwight Howard is preaching "inside-out" offense when D'Antoni is saying the exact opposites. However much Howard wants the Lakers to be a great defensive team, he hasn't figured out how to inspire his teammates to help each other and play together with the connectedness that winning teams do.

Following up on Pau Gasol's previous concerns about lack of touches in the post, Howard is clearly at odds with how D'Antoni is using him – even as D'Antoni has relented and provided more post touches while Nash is out, though it's killing D'Antoni not to be picking and rolling.

"We're not really producing anything, not just the pick and roll, but secondary shots from that," he said. "A lot of my offense, a lot of our offense, that's where it initiates. We're just not able to get it yet."

Contrast that with Howard after the New York game, being asked where he likes the ball most. "That's obvious. On the block." Asked about the pick and roll, Howard responded: "On the block."

After the debacle in Cleveland, the Lakers made some progress in New York in moving the ball around better. That was reinforced before the victory in Washington by D'Antoni simplifying his desires as much as he could, telling players to take the shot if it's there but pass immediately if it's not. He restated the fast Suns' "seven seconds or less" approach by telling the slow Lakers that the goal is to play "16-to-18 seconds of Laker basketball" before even considering dumping the ball on Bryant or someone else to create a one-on-one shot.

Although it looks like Gasol, a great teammate who successfully went through his first round of on-court drills Saturday in Philadelphia, will be back from his knee tendinitis before Nash returns, Nash is the one who can execute D'Antoni's visions ... and Nash's own visions, too.

Nash is man enough to handle the pressure.

You can question him physically at 38 considering his body did break quickly and heal slowly. You can keep it simple and say he isn't going to fix the Lakers' defense.

But there are few in the league as mentally strong as he is, first off. And as amazing as players such as Chris Paul and Derrick Rose are – those being the guys in the league Bryant sees as having a competitive growl most similar to his – more than anything, the Lakers need a true uniting force.

Nash is unrivaled as far as creating a feeling of security and support on his teams.

So it's a simple blueprint: Nash's return creates the connectedness. The connectedness leads to guys playing together – on defense as well as offense.

That's valid reason for Lakers fans to get excited again.

However overdrawn the buildup has been in this case, it's time to start enjoying it again.

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